The First Word: Business Days

On this day — reliving yesterday to prepare for tomorrow; the campus-carry debate comes to a Senate committee; new questions are raised about the UT System’s controversial new hirer; more details are revealed about a new subcommittee’s hunt for ‘non-tax’ revenue; and the budget wheels get ready to roll in both the House and Senate

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***It's All Just A Little Bit of History Repeating

In today's edition of 'Tell Me If You've Seen This Movie Before' — Using a point of order, the Democrats managed to force the Voter ID bill back to committee, where the language was promptly cleaned up (the bill said days and the bill analysis said business days) and then sent to the Calendars Committee, which voted overwhelmingly to put it back on the House's agenda for Wednesday. Does this sound familiar? Remember the House debate over the Sonogram Bill?

So, what comes Wednesday? Democrats will spend all of today and a good part of tomorrow pouring through the newly revised Voter ID legislation looking for other points of order. If they can find other points that can be sustained, the whole process will repeat itself again. If they can't, it's on to the amendments and there will be a great many of them. The Democrats are perfectly cognizant that most of those amendments will be rejected, but they'll offer them to score political points in the face of an inevitable Republican victory and to help lay the groundwork for any future legal challenge to the Voter ID legislation.

As noted political observer and West Baltimore stick-up man Omar Little would put it, "It's all in the game yo. It's all in the game."

Clip is could be considered NSFW.

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***Guns on Campus – Round Two

The Senate Criminal Justice Committee will hold a hearing today on legislation introduced by Sen. Jeff Wentworth that would allow Texans with concealed handgun licenses to bring their weapons into buildings and dormitories on college campuses. College students at UT and other universities have been organizing for a week, using Facebook and other social media sites, in an attempt to bring a get a mass of students to the hearing today. A vote on the measure is expected sometime late today and unless something dramatic happens, the bill is expected to pass out of committee to the entire Senate.

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***Under Pressure

The Chronicle’s Patti Hart reports that hire of the UT System’s new advisor, Rick O’Donnell, has come under fire from another prominent lawmaker, Dallas Republican Rep. Dan Branch, who chairs the House Higher Education Committee.

Two key Texas lawmakers Monday raised red flags that the UT Board of Regents’ decision to hire a conservative think tank analyst as a $200,000 a year “special adviser” could undermine UT Chancellor Fransisco Cigarroa and impair Texas higher education research initiatives.

State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, and Rep. Dan Branch, R-Dallas, who chair the Legislature’s two committees on higher education, said they hoped that the O’Donnell’s employment by UT isn’t interpreted as a retreat from the Legislature’s commitment to create more nationally-recognized research universities in Texas. The two were co-authors of a $200 million “Tier One” initiative in 2009 designed to encourage “emerging” research universities develop nationally-recognized programs.

As a senior fellow for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, O’Donnell argued that university research was harmful to good teaching and that Texas schools should create their own system of accreditation, separate from the current national system.

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***Don’t Call Them Taxes

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst has appointed a special Senate subcommittee to turn the state’s metaphorical couch over and see what change falls out. Sen. Steve Ogden says the committee will be examining everything from ending tax exemptions, to increasing university tuition and higher drivers’ licenses fees. Austin bureau chief Peggy Fikac reports:

Among other items, the panel will examine tax exemptions and look at whether funds such as endowments created by a tobacco lawsuit settlement can be used to help balance the budget, he said.